WASHINGTON (AFP) - US beekeepers have been stung in recent
months by the mysterious disappearance of millions of bees
threatening honey supplies as well as crops which depend on the
bee numbers on parts of the east coast and in Texas have fallen
by more than 70 percent, while California has seen colonies drop
by 30 to 60 percent.

According to estimates from the US
Department of Agriculture, bees are vanishing across a total
of 22 states, and for the time being no one really knows why.

"Approximately 40 percent of my 2,000 colonies are currently
dead and this is the greatest winter colony mortality I have
ever experienced in my 30 years of beekeeping," apiarist Gene
Brandi, from the California State Beekeepers Association, told
Congress recently.

It is normal for hives to see populations fall by some 20
percent during the winter, but the sharp loss of bees is causing
concern, especially as domestic US bee colonies have been
steadily decreasing since 1980.

There are some 2.4 million professional hives in the country,
according to the Agriculture Department, 25 percent fewer than
at the start of the 1980s.

And the number of beekeepers has halved.

The situation is so bad, that beekeepers are now calling for
some kind of government intervention, warning the flight of the
bees could be catastrophic for crop growers.

Domestic bees are essential for pollinating some 90 varieties of
vegetables and fruits, such as apples, avocados, and blueberries
and cherries.

"The pollination work of honey bees increases the yield and
quality of United States crops by approximately 15 billion
dollars annually including six billion in California," Brandi
said.

California's almond industry alone contributes two billion
dollars to the local economy, and depends on 1.4 million bees
which are brought from around the US every year to help
pollinate the trees, he added.

The phenomenon now being witnessed across the United States has
been dubbed "colony collapse disorder," or CCD, by scientists as
they seek to explain what is causing the bees to literally
disappear in droves.

The usual suspects to which bees are known to be vulnerable such
as the varroa mite, an external parasite which attacks honey
bees and which can wipe out a hive, appear not to be the main
cause.

"CCD is associated with unique symptoms, not seen in normal
collapses associated with varroa mites and honey bee viruses or
in colony deaths due to winter kill," entomologist Diana
Cox-Foster told the Congress committee.